At the core of the new campaign and the principal tool for ‘helping consumers do more with their images’ is a comprehensive new consumer website, imageSpectrum. This incorporates the ‘World of EOS’ and Pixma sites and adds a range of other educational and marketing content, including a direct-to-consumer retail portal for the Canon Online Store (products); PhotoPico (enlargements, photo books); and education (Canon Academy).

Addressing possible retailer discomfort with the more concentrated direct-to-consumer appeals Canon is making within the new website, Canon’s director, Consumer imaging, Jason McLean said: ‘There’s nothing new, it’s just positioned differently with the website, so I can’t answer whether they [retailers] would be more or less uncomfortable.

‘I haven’t had any recent feedback on likes or dislikes of those two [Canon Online Store and PhotoPICO].’

The ‘No One Sees It Like You’ campaign commenced on April 14 with TV spots and the launch of the new website.

‘There are now a range of options to help consumers get more out of imaging including courses and online tutorials; high-quality output such as photo books, canvasses and photoboards; and creative challenges,’ said Mr McLean. ‘Future growth as an industry comes from how well we inspire and enable consumers to take this step easily and live enriched lives as a result.’

‘ “No One Sees It Like You” is a fully integrated print TV and digital campaign,’ he told Photo Counter. ‘The goal is to reach as many digital imaging consumers as possible between now and the end of the year.’

Canon already has around 200,000 people on its database, so starts the new campaign from a solid platform.

While Canon-supporting retailers might prefer that their supplier didn’t have a direct line of communication with this number of potential customers, Canon explains that it is willing to share its customer database and other resources with retailers.

‘We make opportunities available to retailers to leverage our programs and platforms and this includes use of our database to promote their offers,’ explained Andrew Giles, Canon’s manager, Communications and PR, Consumer imaging.

‘We’re also making content available for retailers to use in their own programs, wholesaling our services such as Canon Academy, and make space on our website available to highlight retail offers.’

Jason McLean said that the Canon Online store simply provided another choice for consumers and while declining to reveal the percentage of Canon Australia sales through the Canon store, he said: ‘It’s not massive. We never expected it to be massive.’

‘“No One Sees It Like You” places the consumer at the heart of everything we do across the image experience, from capture and output through to learning, challenges and being part of a larger community of inspiration,’ said Mr McLean. ‘Retailers have responded well to the opportunities for value-added sales and already at launch we have Digital Camera Warehouse selling Canon Academy training courses in their outlets and others looking to range High Definition PhotoPICO photobooks and canvasses in their stores.’

The advertising campaign directs consumers to the new website with the aim of ‘encouraging people to do more with imaging as the overall goal.’

‘Consumers want to do more with their imaging but don’t know how to get started, and Canon is uniquely placed to make the process simple. Stimulating and helping consumers to do more with their images across the full imaging experience will create more demand, transactions and ultimately category growth.’

The next phase of the campaign will kick off in July, and will include, among other things, Canon offering image storage space on the new website.

PhotoPICO will also be prominent in the July phase, with Canon offering printing on surfaces ‘which currently aren’t available n the market.’

Addressing the issue of market leadership, Mr McLean said: ‘I think this for us shows once again that when the industry need some support we are out there having a real go at driving local value.

‘We are putting our money where our mouth is. It’s tough out there. There’s a lot of uncertainty, so this is a fairly bold move by us and we are hoping it does big things for the industry and us locally.

‘At Canon, we believe that great images have the power to enrich people’s lives and those of people around them, so we’ve made it our business to help them get more than they thought possible out of every image. This includes more inspiration, more information and more of what they need to take control and open their eyes to a world of imaging possibilities,’ said Mr McLean.

‘The retail experience is a critical opportunity to identify and cater precisely to the breadth of consumer needs, and we continue to engage with retail partners to look at ways to add value to the consumer experience together.’